Scott Van Slyke was activated from the DL, with Luis Cruz being designated for assignment. Cruz has yet to decide whether he’ll accept the assignment to Triple-A Albuquerque.

The Dodgers on Friday activated outfielder and first baseman Scott Van Slyke from the disabled list before their game against the Phillies. To make room on the roster, infielder Luis Cruz was designated for assignment.

The Dodgers have 10 days to trade or release Cruz, who is now off the 40-man roster. Even if Cruz clears waivers, the Dodgers cannot outright him to the minor leagues without his consent as he has already been outrighted once in his career.

Van Slyke had been sidelined since June 11 with left shoulder bursitis. He was recalled on May 10 and provided the Dodgers with much needed power. Despite only being with the club for a month, Van Slyke is third on the Dodgers with six home runs, and is hitting .221/.284/.559.

In regards to Cruz, it’s long past due that he be removed from the 25-man roster. While he had earned the opportunity to be a bench piece heading into this season, handing him a starting gig was ill-advised from the outset.

The Dodgers have already mixed in a scheduled off-day to ease Kemp back into the flow of things, and his hamstring has looked good since he’s been back, as The Bison has already stolen multiple bases and made a great running catch in his return.

The Dodgers continued their weekend bullpen renovation on Sunday, as veteran right-hander Matt Guerrier was designated for assignment and Chris Withrow was recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque before their finale with the Phillies.

The move is the second in two days for the Dodgers bullpen, which has found an infusion of youth. Withrow, 24, and 22-year-old Jose Dominguez, added Friday, join 25-year-old closer Kenley Jansen and 22-year-old setup man Paco Rodriguez in the bullpen.

Guerrier was 2-3 with a 4.80 ERA in 34 games this season, with 21 strikeouts and 12 walks. Guerrier is in the final season of a three-year, $12 million deal. With a $3.75 million salary this season, Guerrier has roughly $1.8 million remaining, meaning it’s highly unlikely the 34-year-old gets claimed on waivers.

The Dodgers are in a converting mode in 2013, and their latest project is Blake Smith. The 2009 second-round draft pick out of Cal was transferred from Double-A Chattanooga to Class-A Rancho Cucamonga on Friday, and the former outfielder will switch to the mound, as a right-handed pitcher.

Smith was hitting .233/.311/.375 with six home runs and 14 doubles in 75 games in his second year in Double-A.

“We knew Blake was a reliever as well coming out of college, so we talked about this possibility during spring training and that we’d give it until the All-Star break,” said Dodgers vice president, player development DeJon Watson. “At this time we feel that pitching is the best way to accelerate his path the majors.”

Smith was a two-way player coming out of Berkeley, so this was always an option. The Dodgers have been heavy converters over the last handful of years, with Kenley Jansen before and Aaron Miller/Pedro Baez this year.

Chad Billingsley is back on the 15-day DL for the second time this season, and once again it’s due to right elbow soreness. Bills had an MRI that revealed inflammation and will have further tests once the inflammation has subsided.

Chad left his last start early after feeling something in the elbow on a pitch. He had been on quite the run since returning from his first elbow injury, and will be replaced in the rotation by newly-acquired Josh Beckett.

Yasiel Puig, the Dodgers highly-paid Cuban import, was out of the lineup for a few games due to a bruised right heel, according to the Quakes official Twitter page. He returned to bang out four hits on Sunday though, so he should be fine.

After three years in the Dominican Summer League, he finally got his shot in America and thrived, posting a 3.50 ERA, 3.57 FIP, and 3.36 SIERA in 10 starts and 43.2 IP. In particular, his hot June earned him the month’s Dodger Pride Award. At Rookie-ball in Ogden, he struggled in 3 starts, but it’s tough to read too much into that.

More importantly, his stuff seems to have improved as well, going from touching 89-90 to sitting a tad above that range. Additionally, his curve is progressing nicely, but he’ll still need a dependable third pitch as a starter and he’s not necessarily young for his level of competition.

Unfortunately, I can’t go without mentioning that he tested positive for Stanozolol and was suspended for 50 games back in 2009.

Eadington’s 2011 performance was excellent, as he posted a 1.59 ERA, 1.35 FIP, and 2.39 SIERA in 9 games of relief work over 11.1 IP. In 9 games and 10.1 IP in Ogden, he posted an even better 0.00 ERA, 1.55 FIP, and 1.92 SIERA.

The catch, of course, is that he was already 23, which is normally grounds for ignoring a performance like this, as somebody at his age should be dominating this level of competition. However, coming out of college from Harvard explains his age, and the words “lefty” and “reliever” combined with velocity from 90-93 will draw interest.

Eadington is solidly build and throws from a 3/4 arm slot. He has a repeatable delivery and solid mechanics, though I think he could hide the ball better if he completed his follow through. As a potential LOOGY, he stays closed longer than normal, so it’s deceptive from that side of the plate. To go along with his velocity, he has a curve that neutralizes lefties and he generally throws strikes.

For 24.1 IP in 12 games, Laney put up a 0.74 ERA, 2.46 FIP, and 3.43 SIERA, an impressive performance, but with the caveat that he’s 22 and old for the competition level.

As a lefty reliever though, there’s hope for him to move quickly, especially since his velocity has grown from 83-85 to 88-91 in college at Coastal Carolina. He has a curve and a change, but he’ll only need the former pitch in his projected role. For a big guy, his delivery is surprisingly coordinated and his control should hold up as he moves levels. I still think he’ll need to sit in the low-90s to have a legitimate shot.

He’s a rather large individual and he’ll need to work at maintaining his weight.

He weighs in at 145 and stands 5’7″, so even though I’ve never seen him pitch, I can’t say I’m all that optimistic about his prospects.

However, I’d be remissed if I didn’t mention his 2011 performance, which consisted of allowing 0 runs in 13 Arizona League innings and 4 innings in Ogden. Additionally, he struck out 27 and walked 2, so he was simply dominant.

His 6.82 ERA was ugly, and his peripheral measurements were better but not by that much, as shown by his 5.06 FIP and 4.01 SIERA. However, he missed a good number of bats (17.5%) and showed control beyond his years (5.2%), but simply gave up far too many bombs to be effective. Throw in the fact that this is a teenager in unfamiliar surrounding with nobody from his background around, and it’s understandable that he might struggle initially.

Like most Japanese pitchers, he has about eleventy billion different pitches, but the significant ones are his 85-88 fastball and slow curve. I’m assuming he’ll be developed as a starter, in which case his third pitch will likely be the changeup with the split grip, unless the Dodgers puzzling aversion to the pitch opts to develop the slider/cutter that the system philosophy seems to prefer.

Unsurprisingly, he has solid mechanics with ideal timing, and his control is likely to be a strong point for him throughout his career. At 6’1″, there’s room for velocity upticks, which will be something to look out for going forward.